Here's mine this month.
I took a couple weeks off writing my current WIP because I was deep in the middle of helping Jess edit and revise her novel Rise: From the Ashes. I love helping her. Not only am I honored that my almost 16 year old still wants my help, but I'm so proud of her and every time I read through her work I burst with motherly pride.
But my problem is now that I'm done helping her, I seem to have lost the rhythm of writing mine. I've stared at my screen and I try to get the words out...any words really, but the flow just isn't there. Somehow I have to get my characters back in my head.
I'm hoping, this week as I watch the sun rise over the misty lake, I will find them again.
Have you ever lost your flow because of a break in your work? How did you recover?
Kathy :)
I took six months off in between final edits for my second book and starting my third, and it was difficult to jump back into writing. Even now that I'm in the groove, the first fifteen minutes every day is like pulling teeth to get started. Just write anything. It will come back to you!
ReplyDeleteIt can be difficult to get back into the flow of writing a story after a break. Sometimes I write flash fiction with the characters. You could try reading back through what you've written. Sometimes just keep writing can make the groove come back.
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear this! Congrats, on your daughter's work. I love that this is a bond you share, how sweet is that ;D
ReplyDeleteI started writing a children's book and I loved where it was going. Hubby took a week off and it tossed me off course. I think the only way back is to read something similar. It gets you thinking about it in an off handed way, then you can come back to it, with fresh eyes.
I worked on it a bit and set it aside. I'm trying to work on something else, now...sometimes that helps, too. Go have fun and then jump back into it! It is a process..we have to swim back to it...once we get some distance, we do lose sight of the shore. I know you will find a way :D Nice to meet you~ ATB
We had my daughter's graduation from college recently and then my wife retired right after that -- so there was a lot of disruption. I tried to keep up, but at the end of all this I was trying to get a new scene going and staring at a blank screen. I had a general idea of the setting and what characters might be in the scene. So I just tried to figure which character was going to be the POV then I asked that character "What do you see?" And after some back-and-forth the scene took off just fine. I have had this happen a couple of times and it works, at least for me. One time the character told me (or actually my Muse Willow told me), that a different character was the POV so I changed to the other character and asked the question. Be persistent and bug your muse until they give you something, anything. Even a little nugget to get you back into it. I like your blog. Great to see you are raising the next generation of Writers :-) ~PapaBear
ReplyDeleteI find it tough getting back into writing after I've taken a break and it takes me a while to 'feel' it again.
ReplyDeleteI like a couple of the suggestions already - reading through what you've already written and writing a piece of flash fiction about your characters.
Good luck :-)
It's so lovely that you help your daughter with her writing. I'm sure you'll get inspired again. There are so many things you can do to get writing again, but I guess the most basic is to sit down and write. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteDenise
Kathy, I've had this problem before and what helped me was reading over what I'd written, doing some editing as I go. That seems to reconnect me to the manuscript. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI agree on the re-reading. Just think of it as catching up with friends! I'm sure that soon you'll be eager to find out all their news and what they're up to next. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, ya. I would schedule time to write and sometimes I'd get something out. Sometimes, I'd just daydream. Then, some days, it would click in, and I'd find that sweet spot. Hoping you find your sweet spot!
ReplyDeletePlay off the Page
Hey! I've given you an award from over at my blog! :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lifeisgood-forever21.blogspot.com/2012/07/fabulous-blog-ribbon-award.html
That is so neat that you can share something like that with your daughter. <3 Mainly I write stuff, and my mom reads it...no writing bond going on there. XD
ReplyDeleteOnce I completely swore off writing and went about three months. When I got back into it, it was awful. But instead of trying to get back into my current WIP I started a novella. After I wrote that it was easier to get into writing other stuff. It still takes me time to get to actually writing it though. Several minutes consist of blank-staring-at-screen. (;
Nice to meet you through IWSG. :D I hope it's not too sudden that I nominated you for an award on my blog. (: > http://www.flamecycle.blogspot.com/2012/07/my-first-award.html
Yep, that's happened to me as well. But how cool you are helping your daughter! If you want to get your characters back in your head, just start writing a conversation or a short story featuring them. That helps me sometimes. I will even (looks around conspiratorially) talk to them out loud! Yes... I'm an odd duck, but most people know that now. But I do! I talk to them like they're in the room with me and try to coax them back into my head. Hey, I have dialogue conversations out loud while writing, why the heck not? Good luck getting back to that WiP!
ReplyDeleteReal life gets in the way all the time. I always edit as I go, so I just start back a chapter or so and edit it. As I reach the unwritten part, the memory of what I needed to do and how I was going to do it comes back.
ReplyDeleteGood luck getting that flow back! :-)
One way to recover is to talk to a friend you haven't talked to in a while about your writing. You'll get excited and want her to read some of your mss. Then you'll want to start writing and revising things again. It worked for me!
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